1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for cleaning the inside of a pipe used in pneumatic transportation systems, dryers, dehumidifiers and many other fields, in particular, cleaning in place.
2. Prior Art
Conventionally, such method of inserting a brush with a brush body attached to a leading end of elongated member such as a wire, and cleaning inside of a pipe by manually sliding the brush with supply water is widely known as a method for cleaning the inside of a pipe.
In the case of cleaning the inside of a pipe by the conventional brushing method, particularly when multiple short pipes are connected by means of such detachable mechanism as flange joint, short pipes (pipes) required for cleaning have been removed by releasing the detachable mechanism, transported to a cleaning station, then, manually cleaned in the inside thereof by the brush prepared separately, and reassembled again as they were, after they have been dried.
Thus, the conventional brushing method has the following problems:
1. In either case that a pipe comprises a single pipe or a combination of two or more short pipes, because the inside or pipe is cleaned manually by sliding a brush, not only the cleaning operation has been laborsome and time-consuming, but also it has been different to uniformly clean the inside of the pipe (short pipe), and cleaning effect has been insufficient. In addition, there has been such problem that the pipe must be transported to a pipe cleaning station, and the transporting operation is troublesome.
2. Specifically, in the case of a pipe comprising a combination of two or more short pipes, since operations of disassembling, cleaning, drying and assembling pipes to be cleaned must be performed totally manually, the cleaning operation has been troublesome and time-consuming.
3. Because many of pipes (short pipes) to be cleaned are mounted in a high location, the disassembling and assembling operations have been risky.
4. As pipes are cleaned by using water as well as a brush, a dryer for removing the water is required, and there has been a problem of high equipment cost.
5. When cleaning the pipe in the assembled state without disassembling, it was difficult to remove the remainder of transportation protective materials clogged in the pipe joints or moisture.